Israel's History

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The importance of understanding Israel's historical periods.

 

The Holy Land is an ancient place, one of the oldest in the world. While in the Holy Land, you’ll be seeing things as old as 6,000 years. That’s old! Different periods of history will be referred to when describing Israel’s holy sites and places. Please note that there will likely be several key events that have taken place at a particular site. Each event will have happened during a specific period in Israel’s history. If you can understand the different periods a little, you’ll get much more out of your experience. 

 

Chronology of Time Used by Archaeologists and Historians

 

• Early Bronze Age   4000–2000 BC

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• Middle Bronze Age   2000–1500 BC

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• Late Bronze Age   1500–1200 BC

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• Iron 1 Age   1200–1000 BC

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• Iron 2 Age   1000–586 BC

 

Canaanite Period   4000–1875 BC

 

• 4000 BC – Canaanites inhabit the land of Israel.

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• 2500 BC – Noah and the Great Flood.

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• 2100 BC – Tower of Babel

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• 2091 BC – Abraham moves to the land of Canaan from Ur of the Chaldeans.

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• 1875 BC – Jacob and his family move to Egypt to live with Joseph.

 

Israelite Period   1450–970 BC

 

• 1446 BC – Exodus of the Israelites from Egypt.

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• 1406 BC – Nation of Israel enters the Promised Land.

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• 1043 BC – King Saul becomes the first king of Israel.

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• 1010 – 970 BC – King David's reign.

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First Temple Period   970–586 BC

 

• 970–931 BC – King Solomon’s reign. Golden years of the Kingdom of Israel.

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• 959 BC – Solomon completes the magnificent temple on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem (the same place Abraham intended to sacrifice Isaac).

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• 931 BC – The Kingdom of Israel divides because of Solomon’s sins. Jeroboam reigns over the northern Kingdom of Israel from Samaria. Rehoboam reigns over the southern Kingdom of Israel from Jerusalem.

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• 722 BC – Assyrians conquer and deport most of the northern Kingdom of Israel to Assyria.

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• 586 BC – Babylonians conquer Jerusalem and Judah under Nebuchadnezzar and deport most of the southern Kingdom of Judah to Babylon.

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Second Temple Period   538–444 BC

 

• 537 BC – Many Jews return from Babylon; the rebuilding of the Second Temple begins under the leadership of Zerubbabel.

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• 515 BC – Completion and Dedication of the Temple

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• 458 BC – Ezra returns to Jerusalem with a second wave of Jews and teaches all Israelites about the Bible.

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• 444 BC – Nehemiah returns to Jerusalem to rebuild the city walls.

 

Hellenistic Period (Greek Rule)   333–167 BC

 

• 333 BC – Alexander the Great defeats the Persian Empire and sets out to conquer the world. After his sudden death in 323 BC, the Greek Empire was divided into several successor states. During this period, the Bible was translated into Greek (the Septuagint).

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Hasmonean Period (Maccabean Rule)   167–63 BC

 

• 167 BC – When the Jews were prohibited from practicing Judaism, and their temple was desecrated as part of an effort to impose Greek-oriented culture and customs on the entire population, the Jews revolted. First led by Mattathias of the priestly Hasmonean family and then by his son Judah the Maccabee, the Jews subsequently entered Jerusalem and purified the temple. This purification of the temple is commemorated by the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah (164 BC). 

 

Roman Period (Roman Rule)   63 BC–313 AD

 

• 63 BC – Roman general Pompey captures Jerusalem.

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• 37 BC–4 BC – Herod, Roman vassal king, rules the Land of Israel.  He enlarges the Temple Mount and rebuilds the temple. He also builds other monumental projects, including Caesarea, Herodian, Cave of the Patriarchs, and Masada.

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• 4 BC – Jesus is born in Bethlehem.

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• 27–30 AD – Ministry of Jesus.

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• 30 AD – Jesus crucified.

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• 66 AD – Jewish revolt against the Romans.

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• 70 AD – Destruction of Jerusalem and Second Temple.

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• 74 AD – Fall of Masada.

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• 132 AD – Bar Kokhba Revolt. Roman Emperor Hadrian destroyed Jerusalem, rebuilt it, and named it Aelia (the emperor’s family name) Capitolina (cult of the Capitoline Triad, Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva), a pagan city. Many holy sites were preserved, but they also contained pagan shrines. He also renamed the country of Israel to Palestine, a name derived from the Philistines. Hadrian did this in an attempt to remove any association the Jews had with their land.

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Byzantine Period (Eastern Roman Empire Rule in Israel)   313–614 AD

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The word Byzantine refers to the period of time between when the Roman emperor Constantine I relocated his empire in 330 AD from Rome to Byzantium, which is modern-day Istanbul, and ending in 1453 AD with the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire.

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The Byzantine Empire lasted more than 1,000 years, but it only controlled Israel for about 300 years. In 638 AD, Muslims took over the Holy Land. After that, many churches and monasteries were destroyed by the Persians or Muslims, and most of them weren’t rebuilt until the Catholic Crusaders came in 1095 AD.

 

• 313 – Emperor Constantine recognized Christianity (Edict of Milan). He later converted to Christianity.

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• 326 – Constantine’s mother, Helena, goes to the Holy Land and builds many churches and basilicas on holy sites. 

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• 380 AD – Edict of Thessalonica declared that Christianity was the only official religion of the Roman Empire.

 

Persian Period   614–628 AD

 

• 614 – Persian conquest of the Holy Land. Many churches and monasteries were destroyed.

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• 628 – Holy Land recaptured by the Byzantines.

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Muslim/Arab Period   638–1099 AD

 

• 638 – Muslim/Arab conquest of the Holy Land completed. The rule originated from Damascus, then Baghdad, and subsequently from Egypt.

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• 691 – Where the First and Second Temples were located on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, the Dome of the Rock was built by Caliph Abd el-Malik.

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• 1009 AD – An Egyptian Muslim Caliph named Al-Hakim destroyed many of the Christian buildings in the Holy Land, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

 

Crusader Period   1099–1291 AD

 

• 1099 – In response to the destruction of many churches in the Holy Land by the Muslims in 1009 AD, the Crusaders (Catholic armies from Rome) conquered Jerusalem and many parts of Israel.

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• 1147 – Second Crusade arrives in the Holy Land.

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• 1187 – Destruction of the Crusader army by Muslim leader Saladin. The collapse of the Crusader Kingdom begins.

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• 1265 – Mamelukes, led by Sultan Beybars, conquer the Holy Land.

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• 1270 – Final Crusade arrives, and all its participants are massacred.

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• 1291 – The Last Crusader stronghold of Acco was taken, ending Crusader rule.

 

Mamluk (Muslim) Period   1291–1517 AD

 

• 1291 – Mamluk rule begins.

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• 1333 – Franciscan Order established in Jerusalem. Its members care for holy places and pilgrims.

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• By the end of the Middle Ages, the country’s urban centers were virtually in ruins, most of Jerusalem was abandoned, and the small Jewish community was poverty-stricken. Political and economic upheavals, plagues, locust invasions, and devastating earthquakes darkened the period of Mamluk decline.

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Ottoman (Muslim) Period   1517–1917 AD

 

• 1517 – Following the Ottoman conquest in 1517, the land was divided into four districts and administratively attached to the province of Damascus, with rule from Istanbul.

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• 1520 – Suleiman the Magnificent rebuilds the city walls of Jerusalem.

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• 1799 – Napoleon Bonaparte invades Israel but fails to capture it and is forced to leave.

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• 1860 – The first neighborhood, Mishkenot Sha'ananim, is built outside of Jerusalem’s city walls.

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• 1882 – First large-scale immigration to Israel, mainly from Russia.

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• 1904 – Second large-scale immigration from Russia and Poland.

 

British Period   1917–1948 AD

 

• 1917 – British Foreign Minister Lord Balfour issued on November 2, 1917, the so-called Balfour Declaration, which gave official support for the “establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people” with the commitment not to be prejudiced against the rights of the non-Jewish communities.

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• 1947 – The United Nations approved the partition of Israel into separate Jewish and Arab states on November 29, 1947.

 

State of Israel Period   1948 to Present

 

• 1948 – On the day when the British Mandate in Palestine expired, the State of Israel was instituted on May 14, 1948, by the Jewish National Council under the presidency of David Ben Gurion.

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• 1948–1949 – The Arab-Israeli War; the Arabs refused to accept the newly established State of Israel. Egypt, Syria, Transjordan, Lebanon, and Iraq attacked Israel, but within a year, Israel defeated its attackers.

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• 1950 – Western Jerusalem was proclaimed the capital city of Israel on January 23, 1950.

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• 1956 – The Suez Crisis: Israelis invaded Egyptian territory in October 1956.

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• 1956 – After Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the company that administered the Suez Canal, a joint attack by the French and British was launched. Egypt suffered a military disaster on November 2, 1956. Israel captured the Sinai Peninsula, but after international condemnation, Israel was forced to withdraw.

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• 1967 – Six-Day War: after Egypt closed the Straits of Tiran on May 22, 1967, Israel launched an attack on Egyptian, Jordanian, Syrian, and Iraqi airports on June 5, 1967. After six days, Israel conquered Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, Sinai, and the West Bank.

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• 1973 – Yom Kippur War: On October 6, 1973, on the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur, Syria and Egypt launched a surprise attack against Israel. After the initial success of the attackers, Israel managed to cross the Suez into Egypt and encircle Cairo. Following the intervention of the USA and the Soviet Union, military operations concluded on October 25, 1973.

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• 1978 – The Camp David Accords were signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anvar Sadat in September 1978, at Camp David, USA. Israel agreed to withdraw from the occupied Sinai Peninsula.

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• 1979 – The Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty was signed on March 26, 1979, in Washington.